CULTURE-CHINA:Now Showing û Independent Films
    on 02/09/2010 12.52.36 GMT
Mitch Moxley BEIJING, Aug 27 (IPS) - While Hollywood blockbusters and state-funded historical epics continue to dominate China's box office, a vibrant independent film scene is quietly growing.... (continue)

DEVELOPMENT-AUSTRALIA:It's Not Just About More, But Better, Aid
    on 19/08/2010 12.22.06 GMT
Neena Bhandari SYDNEY, Aug 19 (IPS) - Australia's foreign aid budget is likely to double by 2015, but civil society groups say this is far from enough if it is to keep to its "fair share" of commitments to poorer countries.... (continue)

BURMA:U.S. Support Boosts Calls for U.N. War Crimes Inquiry
    on 18/08/2010 17.40.04 GMT
Marwaan Macan-Markar... (continue)

Funding Lags to Aid Pakistan's Millions of Displaced
    on 17/08/2010 00.16.50 GMT
Megan Iacobini de Fazio... (continue)

Arab-Israeli Orchestra Spreads Message of Peace in Latin America
    on 16/08/2010 22.12.02 GMT
Gonzalo Ortiz QUITO, Aug 16 (IPS) - "The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has proved that music can break down barriers previously considered insurmountable," its Argentine-Israeli conductor, Daniel Barenboim, told IPS on a visit to Ecuador.... (continue)

BIODIVERSITY:An Ocean of Crustaceans
    on 14/08/2010 21.40.14 GMT
Stephen Leahy* - Tierramérica... (continue)

460 Million Dollars Sought for Pakistan Flood Relief
    on 12/08/2010 03.25.18 GMT
Aprille Muscara UNITED NATIONS, Aug 11 (IPS) - With an estimated 14 to 16 million people affected by what the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) calls "the worst monsoon-related floods in living memory", the U.N. launched a humanitarian flash appeal Wednesday seeking 459.7 million dollars for relief efforts in Pakistan.... (continue)

Russia's Agony a "Wake-Up Call" to the World
    on 11/08/2010 15.50.20 GMT
Stephen Leahy VIENNA, Aug 11 (IPS) - A wind turbine on an acre of northern Iowa farmland could generate 300,000 dollars worth of greenhouse-gas-free electricity a year. Instead, the U.S. government pays out billions of dollars to subsidise grain for ethanol fuel that has little if any impact on global warming, according to Lester Brown.... (continue)

AUSTRALIA:Compensation Isn't Justice in Aboriginal Death - Critics
    on 10/08/2010 11.56.34 GMT
Stephen de Tarczynski... (continue)

AUSTRALIA:Enough of Uranium Mining, Say Aboriginal Communities
    on 09/08/2010 08.06.08 GMT
Jessie Boylan KALGOORLIE-BOULDER, Australia, Aug 9 (IPS) - As a mining giant prepares to open a major uranium mining site in Western Australia next year, the clamour for the state to once more ban mining of the radioactive mineral has become louder.... (continue)

SRI LANKA:No Peace in Sight in Human-vs-Elephant War
    on 04/08/2010 09.50.14 GMT
Amantha Perera - IPS/IFEJ*... (continue)

SRI LANKA:No Peace in Sight in Human-vs-Elephant War
    on 04/08/2010 03.27.20 GMT
Amantha Perera - IPS/IFEJ*... (continue)

Ocean Losing Its Green
    on 31/07/2010 23.29.46 GMT
Stephen Leahy VIENNA, Jul 31 (IPS) - The oceans are the lifeblood of our planet and plankton its red blood cells. Those vital "red blood cells" have declined more than 40 percent since 1950 and the rate of decline is increasing due to climate change, scientists reported this week.... (continue)

ZIMBABWE:Badly Needed Work Begins on Bulawayo Water System
    on 30/07/2010 08.01.40 GMT
Ignatius Banda BULAWAYO, Jul 30 (IPS) - Dispersing feasting flies and angry residents from a manhole cover spewing sewage from people's homes and into the road: another day in the working life of Njabulo Siziba. It's a dirty, frustrating, thankless job as a civil engineer for Bulawayo city council, but help is at hand for Siziba and the city he serves.... (continue)

AUSTRALIA:Marine Biodiversity Threatened by Oil, Gas Exploration
    on 30/07/2010 07.43.26 GMT
Stephen de Tarczynski... (continue)

U.N. Declares Water and Sanitation a Basic Human Right
    on 28/07/2010 23.30.26 GMT
Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jul 28 (IPS) - When the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) back in December 1948, 58 member states voted for a historic document covering political, economic, social and cultural rights.... (continue)

PAKISTAN:Life At A Time Of Suicide Bombings
    on 28/07/2010 06.26.36 GMT
Zofeen Ebrahim LAHORE, Pakistan, Jul 28 (IPS) - Like any other Friday morning, hordes of people flocked at the shrine of 11th-century Sufi saint, Hazrat Ali Hajveri, that is near Bhaati Gate inside Lahore's walled city on Jul. 2. By that afternoon, a much larger crowd had gathered at the site, this time for the usual Friday prayers.... (continue)

MEDIA-PHILIPPINES:Citizen Journalism Gets Public Involved
    on 20/07/2010 10.40.16 GMT
Kara Santos - Asia Media Forum*... (continue)

HEALTH:East African Laws Confuse Fake and Generic Drugs - WHO
    on 19/07/2010 14.15.18 GMT
Isolda Agazzi GENEVA, Jul 19 (IPS) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) agrees that the anti-counterfeit legislation that has been adopted or that is under consideration in East Africa threatens the accessibility of affordable generic medicines.... (continue)

Civil Society Hails New Oil and Mining Transparency Standards
    on 16/07/2010 00.37.44 GMT
Jim Lobe* WASHINGTON, Jul 15 (IPS) - National and international civil society groups Thursday hailed the U.S. Senate's passage of a major financial reform act that includes a key anti-corruption provision requiring energy and mining companies to publicly disclose payments they make to governments around the world.... (continue)

Water as Human Right Threatens to Split World Body
    on 15/07/2010 23.43.48 GMT
Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jul 15 (IPS) - A long outstanding proposal to recognise the right to water as a basic universal human right is threatening to split the world's rich and poor nations.... (continue)

AUSTRALIA:Apprehended Sex Tourists Just 'Tip of the Iceberg'
    on 12/07/2010 11.43.28 GMT
Stephen de Tarczynski... (continue)

Chile Threatens to Split South Unity in World Body
    on 07/07/2010 17.26.18 GMT
Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jul 7 (IPS) - The Group of 77 (G77) has historically maintained a united front, vociferously protecting the economic interests of developing countries at the United Nations.... (continue)

AUSTRALIA:Hunger Far from Unknown in A Land of Plenty
    on 06/07/2010 12.18.52 GMT
Neena Bhandari SYDNEY, Australia, Jul 6 (IPS) - Devina Celeste, 50, waits in a queue of about 40 people at the neighbourhood centre in the Australian inner-city suburb of Newtown for the only hot meal she will get on this cold winter night.... (continue)

Gulf Spill Galvanises Activist Community
    on 30/06/2010 18.45.52 GMT
Matthew Cardinale NEW ORLEANS, Jun 30 (IPS) - With the U.S .government and oil giant British Petroleum under fire for their handling of the more than two-month-old Gulf Coast oil spill disaster, environmental and community activists across the country are taking matters into their own hands.... (continue)

Free Ride for Oil and Coal Industry May Be Over
    on 29/06/2010 21.45.14 GMT
Stephen Leahy BERLIN, Jun 29 (IPS) - Every day, governments give away an estimated two billion dollars of taxpayer money to the fossil fuel industry. This unmatched largesse to a highly profitable sector by countries verging on bankruptcy or unable to feed large numbers of their own people is "complete madness", according to many experts.... (continue)

AUSTRALIA:New PM Called On to Tackle Climate Change
    on 29/06/2010 04.10.02 GMT
Stephen de Tarczynski... (continue)

As Canada's Democracy Trembles, a New Global Architecture Emerges
    on 28/06/2010 12.54.32 GMT
Anthony Fenton TORONTO, Jun 28 (IPS) - Nearly 600 people were arrested as global leaders and elites met behind a fortified perimetre during the G8 and G20 Summits in Huntsville and Toronto this weekend.... (continue)

WORLD:"Anti-Counterfeit Deal Threatens Accessibility of Drugs"
    on 28/06/2010 09.59.50 GMT
Adam Robert Green LONDON, Jun 28 (IPS) - A proposed anti-counterfeit trade deal between 10 countries and the European Union (EU) could create "a new set of barriers to the export of generic medicines to low income countries".... (continue)

Activists Slam G8's Aid Shell Game
    on 27/06/2010 00.08.28 GMT
Stephen Leahy BERLIN, Jun 26 (IPS) - The G8 bloc of wealthy nations promised five billion dollars Saturday for health and nutrition programmes that benefit women and children in developing countries.... (continue)

Time to Give Wall Street the Axe, Say Progressive Groups
    on 25/06/2010 14.59.16 GMT
Bankole Thompson DETROIT, Jun 25 (IPS) - As heads of state from the Group of 20 (G20) most developed and economically powerful emerging nations meet in Toronto, Canada this weekend, some activists at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit are urging a more realistic look at the roots of the global economic crisis - and an end to the free-wheeling capitalist model embodied by Wall Street.... (continue)

Doubts Over Zimbabwe Diamonds
    on 25/06/2010 00.53.40 GMT
Busani Bafana & Pierre Klochendler... (continue)

POLITICS:All Quiet on the Australian Front on Role in Afghanistan
   Analysis by Stephen de Tarczynski on 24/06/2010 04.43.00 GMT
MELBOURNE, June 24 (IPS) - The lack of debate here concerning Australia's military involvement in Afghanistan is unlikely to change in the near future despite the recent deaths of five Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel in the war-ravaged nation.... (continue)

WORLD CUP:United For Africa - Making it Last
    on 23/06/2010 00.24.22 GMT
Nastasya Tay JOHANNESBURG, Jun 22 (IPS) - Perhaps Africa's World Cup began in earnest on Jun. 16, when a despondent green and gold-clad crowd began leaving the Loftus Versfeld stadium even before the end of South Africa's heavy defeat to Uruguay. Migrant African fans felt the first touch of cold post-tournament reality.... (continue)

JAPAN:Left-Behind Parents Want End to Single Child Custody System
    on 22/06/2010 11.10.44 GMT
Suvendrini Kakuchi... (continue)

Smaller Nations Fear Marginalisation by Elite G20
    on 21/06/2010 17.19.38 GMT
Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 (IPS) - The 27-member Global Governance Group (3G) is challenging the politically and economically powerful G20 not to marginalise the interests of small and medium-sized countries or undermine the United Nations in key decision-making.... (continue)

Caribbean Under Fire for Pro-Whaling Stance
    on 20/06/2010 17.07.14 GMT
Peter Richards PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Jun 20 (IPS) - The votes of six Caribbean countries could help decide whether or not the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will ease the 1986 global ban on commercial whaling and allow hunting in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary around Antarctica.... (continue)

MEDIA:Mobile Journalism on the Rise in Asia
    on 16/06/2010 09.26.28 GMT
Kara Santos MANILA, June 16 (IPS) - What do the protests in Burma, bombings in Jakarta, the recent earthquake in Haiti and the massive devastation left by typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines have in common?... (continue)

CLIMATE CHANGE:Maldives Inches Closer to HCFC Phase-out
    on 15/06/2010 06.35.32 GMT
Feizal Samath MALÉ, June 15 (IPS) - The Maldives Islands, fast gaining a reputation for 'walking the talk' as it raises its tiny island voice in the climate change discourse, has launched an action plan to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) by 2020, or 10 years ahead of other countries and the target set by an international agreement known as the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.... (continue)

HEALTH-ASIA:New Infectious Diseases a Challenge to MDG Success
    on 11/06/2010 11.51.36 GMT
Neena Bhandari SYDNEY, June 11 (IPS) - While successful immunisation programmes worldwide have saved millions of lives, the threat of new infectious diseases and drug-resistant strains of existing diseases is posing a major challenge to governments, especially in developing regions like Asia, in meeting their commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).... (continue)

CAMBODIA:Premier Hun Sen Profits from Suppression and Aid
    on 09/06/2010 16.20.40 GMT
Marwaan Macan-Markar... (continue)

AUSTRALIA:Homeless Young Women Defying Stereotype
    on 08/06/2010 05.34.14 GMT
Stephen de Tarczynski... (continue)

CLIMATE CHANGE:Restoring Trust After 'Horrible' Copenhagen Conference
    on 08/06/2010 00.23.24 GMT
Servaas van den Bosch... (continue)

Wildfires Increasing Despite Efforts to Slow Deforestation
    on 04/06/2010 19.12.20 GMT
Matthew O. Berger WASHINGTON, Jun 4 (IPS) - An agreement reached at an international conference last week pledged over four billion dollars to the U.N.'s effort to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that come from deforestation and forest degradation. But a study published Friday questions what impact that effort, called REDD, can have.... (continue)

ENVIRONMENT:Australia Stands Firm on Anti-Whaling Move vs. Japan
    on 03/06/2010 05.28.54 GMT
Neena Bhandari SYDNEY, June 3 (IPS) - Deep rift continues between pro and anti-whaling members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as Australia Tuesday lodged legal action in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Japanese 'scientific' whaling, calling for a permanent end to all whaling in the Southern Ocean, an established whale sanctuary and a critical feeding ground for the mighty mammals.... (continue)

Israel Averts International Probe on Gaza Atrocities
    on 03/06/2010 00.07.02 GMT
Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jun 2 (IPS) - Less than 48 hours after the Israeli attack on a flotilla of six ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, the most powerful political body at the United Nations acted most ineffectively: it opted for a shaky "presidential statement" instead of a demanding resolution.... (continue)

Protests Erupt After Israeli Flotilla Raid
    on 02/06/2010 22.30.42 GMT
Amanda Bransford NEW YORK, Jun 2 (IPS) - Civil society protests are being staged in cities around the world following Israel's widely condemned raid on a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid bound for Gaza.... (continue)

PERU:Native Peoples' Right to Consultation on Land Use Enshrined in Law
    on 28/05/2010 14.44.26 GMT
Milagros Salazar LIMA, May 28 (IPS) - Indigenous peoples in Peru finally have a law that obliges the state to consult them about any project or provision that affects their territory or communities. But it will be difficult to implement, as the body charged with this task is in need of reforms, and additional legislation is needed before it can be fully enforced.... (continue)

Q&A:"Aboriginal Women Need to be Leading from the Front"
    on 27/05/2010 09.50.08 GMT
Stephen de Tarczynski interviews MEGAN DAVIS, first Aboriginal Australian to be elected to a United Nations body... (continue)